So I finally took the plunge, after almost 4 years, and purchased a new PC tonight. This is the most I've ever spent on a computer, and I didn't even get a monitor or keyboard!

I've needed something better than my AMD Athlon 3200 to edit video on for awhile, so I invested in a pretty high-end CPU Intensive system. The specs are listed below:

• Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor
• ASUS P7P55D-E Pro LGA 1156 Intel P55 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
• GeForce 9500 GT 1GB 128-bit DDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card
• Antec BP550 Plus 550W Power Supply and a cheap case
• 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
• Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
• LITE-ON SATA CD/DVD Burner
• Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

All in all, I'm out over 800 bucks on it. It'll be well worth it, however. The speed I'll be able to edit video alone should be a major plus.

I'll be putting my current computer into the case I purchased, and will still have that computer. I'll do hand me downs to the rest of my computers and most likely shed the last one to a good home.

Thank goodness for tax season, and unexpected money. Without both, I wouldn't have been able to get such a sweet system.

I have been working quite hard on my website for the past couple of months, but very much so in the last 2 weeks. I have worked hard on getting things ready for the new chase season, and going through and updating pages that hadn't been updated in a couple of years.

I also came up with a new template for my chase accounts. I think these are much better laid out than previous chase accounts were, which were essentially in a blog format.

I have all of my past chases listed on my Chase Accounts page. Feel free to give them a click, and let me know if you like my new chase account layout. Ultimately, I would like them to all be as cool as my June 5th Chase Account, but not every chase gets to be that awesome.

In other news, I have been enjoying my new Motorola Droid phone. I haven't found many downfalls yet, other than it's lack of being able to tether without rooting the phone. These are all features that consumers want, I wish Verizon would just listen and stop trying to Nickel and Dime their customers to death.

With that said, if anyone is interested in my HTC Touch Pro, I have listed it on Craigslist.

I am testing out my new Motorola Droid phone on Verizon Wireless. I have the capability now to update my blog directly from my phone. This will be good during chase season.

More on the phone soon!

Sent from my Motorola Droid phone.

This is a bit of a delayed update (3 weeks) as I just haven't had a lot of motivation to post this blog post. I've also been busy with the actual layout, look and some technical aspects of the site including revamping the gallery. I am working hard to get my website ready and better for the 2010 chase season. One of the new features this year will be blog thumbnails/images.

During my visit to Texas and Oklahoma, I decided it would be a good time to go meet my friend Michael who lives in San Antonio. This was for two reasons - One it would be very warm in San Antonio and Two - Michigan State was playing Texas Tech in the Alamo Bowl. I hate Michigan State (even if I live in Lansing) and am a big Michigan fan, so this seemed like a great time for me and Michael (who is also a Michigan fan) to wear Michigan stuff to the stadium and have a good time.

So I have been a little late in getting this blog entry back up. I have returned back to Michigan and spent the last 7 days working. I will have more about the trip later, including my trip down to San Antonio for the Alamo Bowl which featured the Texas Tech Red Raiders vs the Michigan State Spartans. I hate Michigan State, and wore some Michigan stuff and yelled Go Blue at a lot of State fans. It was good fun, and a great game.

The real reason for this entry is that I finally got around to dumping video off my video camera from midnight on New Years right at the start of 2010. The fireworks display was brought to you by Steve Miller, Bob Hall, Aaron Cunningham and yours truly and included 1409 explosions - 115 Roman Candles, 14 Bottle Rockets, 200 Saturn Missles, 25 mortars and a 20 shot cake.

The intense low pressure system that brought record breaking snow to Oklahoma City yesterday is now centered over eastern Iowa, and is wrapping very cold air in behind it. We are currently a balmy 39 degrees here in Lansing at the Capital City Airport. This should all change in a bit as temperatures fall later tonight. Most of the snow has melted here by this morning, leading us to not have a white Christmas like most of the country.

Here is the current Surface and Temperature maps:

A pretty crazy weather day today. Blizzard warnings are out in Oklahoma, North Dakota and South Dakota and even parts of Texas. There is almost a white out at the National Weather Center in Norman, OK. You can view their Live Cam here. Even in the past 15 minutes it's gone from being able to see the National Weather Center to almost a complete white out.

You can view all of the warnings/watches/advisories on one map at http://www.weather.gov/view/largemap.php.

Some interesting soundings this afternoon as well, one from New Orleans at 16Z and one from Jackson, MS at 17Z.

It appears the city of Longview, TX or just east had a tornado rip through this afternoon. What prompted me to blog about it, though, was the insane hook-echo on the Shreveport Radar at 2242 UTC as pictured below.

Hopefully everyone that was affected by this is alright!